Katrina Factsheet GCSE Geography

Hurricane Katrina Fact Sheet 2006!!

Response

Number of people sheltered in the Superdome before evacuation: approximately 23,000

Number of people the building’s personnel and supplies could adequately care for:

approximately 1,000 people

Number of people who took shelter in the New Orleans Convention Center: approximately

3000

Number of days before FEMA head Michael Brown was aware that people had been evacuated

to the Convention Center: 3

Number of days before U.S. federal government response: 4

Number of people rescued by the Coast Guard from flooded areas and rooftops: 4,000

Number of people transported out of New Orleans on buses the Friday after the storm: 1,000

per hour

Number of airlines who evacuated residents out of New Orleans: 12 (biggest U.S. airliftrescue

ever)

Number of foreign nations offering to help U.S.: approximately 60

Amount committed to Katrina relief by the federal government: $85 billion

Amount spent by FEMA to date specifically on housing assistance for hurricane victims: $3.31

billion

Amount spent by FEMA to date on operating expenses, including salaries and expense

accounts: $6 billion

Infrastructure

Number of housing units damaged, destroyed, or inaccessible because of Katrina: 850,791

Number of churches, synagogues, and mosques damaged or destroyed: approximately 900

Percentage of homes in New Orleans still lacking electricity: approximately 50%

Percentage of New Orleans schools damaged by Katrina: 83%

Amount of debris yet to be picked up: 1/3

Percentage of bus routes now operational: 49%

Percentage of buses back in service: 17%

Amount given to Louisiana charter schools since Katrina: $44.8 million

Amount given for traditional public schools damaged by the storm: $0

Percentage of child-care facilities yet to reopen: 79%

Percentage of 8-mi Twin Span bridge connecting New Orleans with Slidell, LA that collapsed

into Lake Pontchartrain: 40%

Number of destroyed miles on U.S. Highway 90 running along Gulf Coast between New Orleans

and Pascagoula, MS: 100

Amount of federal funding requested by the Army Corps of Engineers for Louisiana

hurricane/flood protection programs in 2004: $105 million

Amount of money they actually received: $40 million

Amount of federal funding recently sent to Alaska that was requested to build a bridge to an

uninhabited island: $231 million

Amount of money sent by Homeland Security to states to combat natural disasters: $180 million

Number of major disasters declared by the federal government since 1995: 562

People/Human Rights

Number of deaths resulting from Katrina: 1836

Percentage of Katrina-related deaths of people aged 60 or older: 70%

Percentage of New Orleans’ pre-Katrina residents who have returned to the city approx. 45%

Area covered by federal disaster declarations (in square miles): approximately 90,000

Size of the United Kingdom (in square miles): approximately 93,000

Percentage of city that was underwater: 80%

Number of days parts of city remained flooded: 43

Depth of water covering parts of New Orleans: 20 feet

Number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) worldwide: 25 million

Number of persons displaced by Katrina from Louisiana: 645,000 to 1.1 million

Estimated number of displaced residents aged 65 or older: 88,000

Environment

Amount of federal spending designated to rebuild New Orleans post-Katrina: $80 billion

Gallons of oil spilled in Louisiana from damaged tanks and other production facilities during

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: 10.5 million

Gallons spilled from 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska: 11 million

Gallons of crude oil contaminating 2,500 Louisiana homes: 1,000,000

Estimated portion of oil spilled by Katrina recovered through cleanup efforts: 50% to 70%

Portion of flood sediment samples analyzed after Katrina and Rita in Alabama, Louisiana,

Mississippi and Texas that exceeded federal limits for arsenic: 90%

Estimated cost to clean up lead-contaminated New Orleans properties by bringing in clean dirt

and planting grass: $290.4 million

Estimated annual cost of New Orleans’ lead poisoning in damage to society as a result of

problems related to health, education and crime: $76 million

Gallons of water the New Orleans water system loses each day due to breaks caused by Katrina and an under funded repair budget: 85 million

Daily cost to the city from the leaks: $196,350

Health

Percentage of physicians who have left the city: 50%

Number of nurses gone: approximately 1,000

Number of hospitals in Orleans Parish before Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: 22

Number operating as of August 2006: 11

Percentage of adults in Louisiana left without health insurance: 44%

Percentage of children with at least one chronic health condition requiring treatment: 34%

Percentage of these children left without a medical provider: 50%

Percentage of children preschool who failed hearing tests due to health problems from Katrina “crud”: 75%

Number of HIV/AIDS patients served by outpatient clinics in the Charity Hospital system before

the storms: 3,500 Number currently receiving care: 1,200

Out of nine before Katrina, number of rural clinics lost by Coastal Family Health Care, a nonprofit serving the uninsured in Mississippi: 4

In September 2005, days that federal officials said it would take to help Coastal rebuild three of

their clinics: 12-18

As of August 2006, number that had been rebuilt: 0

Percentage of mental health professionals who have left the city: 89%

Number of calls involving mentally ill people that the New Orleans Police Department Mobile

Crisis Unit receives each week: 180

Number of psychiatric in-patient beds in the New Orleans area prior to the hurricanes: 450

Number available as of August 2006: 80

Estimated number of post-traumatic stress disorder cases in the state of Louisiana this year:

300,000

Approximate percent increase in New Orleans’ suicide rate since Katrina: 300%

Culture

Percentage of New Orleans cultural institutions that remain closed from storm damage: 75%

Estimated number of working musicians in New Orleans pre-Katrina: 2,500

Estimated number of musicians in New Orleans post-Katrina: 250

Rebuilding Contracts

Minimum value of contracts federal agencies have awarded to private companies for work

related to Katrina and Rita: $9.7 billion

Amount given out by FEMA for storm-related contracts: $3.4 billion

Percent of those contracts awarded with little or no competition: 80%

Percentage of FEMA contracts by mid-November 2005 that went to firms in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi: 12%

Year that Landstar Express America, a Florida trucking company, received the federal contract

for providing evacuation buses for national disasters: 2002

Days after the mayor of New Orleans declared a mandatory evacuation that Landstar ordered

buses: 2

Days after Hurricane Katrina struck that evacuation buses arrived at the New Orleans

Convention Center: 4

Housing

Number of homes destroyed by breaches in federally designed and funded levees and not

covered under the federal housing recovery plan: 200,000

Number of single-family homes sold in the New Orleans area during the first quarter of 2006:

3,659

Percentage by which this exceeds the number sold during the first quarter of 2005: 28%

Average percentage by which the price of these homes has increased: 20

Number of rental units lost: 43,000

Percentage increase in rental rates after Katrina: 39%

Number of storm-affected households approved for housing assistance: 946,597

Months after Katrina that federal money for housing was approved: 10

Total federal funds dispersed so far to rebuild homes: $0

Number of homeowners in Louisiana on a waiting list for federal rebuilding assistance: 100,000

Percentage of money that has been distributed: 0%

Percentage of homeowners still awaiting Small Business Association disaster loan approval: 50%

Percentage of New Orleans public housing still closed: 80%

Number of people still (1 year on) living in trailers: 94,000

Trailers still needed in Mississippi: 9,000

Trailers still needed in the New Orleans: 69,706

Trailers occupied in the New Orleans area: 31,517

Unused trailers waiting in Hope, Arkansas: 10,777 and elsewhere : 20,000

Trailers needing repair  34,000

Employment

Number of jobs eliminated in the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina: 230,000

Permanent employment loss in Louisiana: 100,000

Percentage of jobs lost immediately post- Katrina: 50%

A year after Katrina, percentage by which New Orleans’ workforce has shrunk: by 30%

Economic Impact

Estimated Cost of damages: $81.2 billion (costliest hurricane in history)

Estimated total economic impact: $200 billion

Louisiana revenue loss, representing one-seventh of general funds total: $1 billion

Percentage of businesses damaged or destroyed in Louisiana due to Katrina: 40%

Percentage of New Orleans small businesses destroyed by Katrina: 60%

Small business disaster loans processed by December 2005: 10!!

Oil production area in Louisiana affected by Katrina: 82%

Natural gas production area in Louisiana affected by Katrina: 60%

Amount of nation's oil produced by U.S. Gulf Coast region: 33%

Amount of nation's natural gas produced by U.S. Gulf Coast region: 20%

Percentage of US grain exports handled by U.S. Gulf Coast region: 60

Number of ports in the Gulf Coast region ranked in the Top 12 of the U.S.: 5

Fraction of Louisiana's oyster harvest lost: 2/3 (valued at $181 million)

Percentage of Louisiana's tourism income coming from New Orleans: 50%